Аннотации:
© 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. The article presents a review of the results of studies examining the cholinergic hypothesis of central processes either in stress reaction of humans or in depression induced by chronic social stresses. These studies include both investigations performed by clinicians assessing the pathogenesis of depression and experiments with rodents. The history of the discovery of stress reaction in humans and vertebrate organisms is considered. An analysis of early investigations conducted in the 1980s- 1990s that led to the formulation of the hypothesis proposing the key role of the cholinergic system in the brain in the implementation of nonspecific stress reaction of the whole multicellular organism in humans and rodents is conducted. The newest concepts of the actions of acetylcholine in the brain as a neuromodulator realizing the volume mechanism of transmission are highlighted. The review of the results of experimental and clinical studies confirming that the primary response of humans and rodents to stress is the activation of cholinergic transmission in the brain, but not the following it subsequent alterations in the functions of serotoninergic system is given. An analysis of numerous investigations confirming the cholinergic hypothesis of stress and depression is performed. The main findings are (i) both an increase in the acetylcholine level in whole brain or in hippocampus following a physostigmine injection and stress lead to similar changes in the behavior and physiological state of rodents, (ii) a single exposure to stress increases acetylcholine levels in several areas of the brain that correlate with adaptive changes in behavior, and (iii) chronic stress evokes disturbances in rodent behavior similar to symptoms of depression that are accompanied with an increase in the acetylcholine level in the brain. Overall, the present paper allows us to conclude that the postulated key role of the cholinergic system in central processes of stress reaction represents a scientific basis for subsequent studies of the mechanisms of depression both in the clinic and laboratory experiments.
